Playboy launches fully uncensored on Apple's Ipad

THE ADULT MAGAZINE Playboy has launched a digital subscription service for the Ipad where the entire back catelogue of issues can be viewed by the salivating public.

The web-based service is called Iplayboy and grants users access to 57 years worth of Playboy magazines. That's close to 700 issues in total and over 130,000 pages of words and images. Yes, there's words there too, you know.

Starting with the June issue Iplayboy will also feature additional web content submitted by the Playboy Commission, particularly in the form of videos. This might just make the online version even more appealing than the print copy.

Playboy's first issue launched in December 1953, featuring Marilyn Monroe. Its most recent issue features Lizzy Jagger, daughter of rock star Mick Jagger. Over the years many famous names have featured in its pages, either in interviews or as centrefolds.

The magazine has been banned in many countries, including India, China, Malaysia, Thailand, Sinapore, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. It was also banned for 36 years in Ireland, but that ban was lifted in 1995 as the country became more liberal.

We expected that Apple would have banned Playboy too, as it has a policy of not allowing any adult material onto its Iphone or Ipad. Its CEO, Steve Jobs, slated the rival mobile operating system Android for its openess to adult content, which likely got Android even more support, but Apple will no doubt be criticised for its apparent hypocrisy when it comes to Playboy.

The INQUIRER contacted Apple to see what it had to say about the launch of Iplayboy, but Apple declined to comment.

There was already a Playboy app for the Ipad, but all of the nudity was removed. The magazine also includes articles, fiction and interviews, and the ancient joke has always been that people 'read it for the articles'.

Iplayboy gets around Apple's anti-nudity policies by hosting everything on its HTML5 Ipad-optimised website instead of launching an app, which would have to conform to Apple's app rules. This saves Heffner many headaches in trying to convince Jobs to backtrack on his approach to adult content, but it still presents a potential problem for Jobs in that the uncensored Playboy magazines are now available on his hallowed devices.

Iplayboy was initially intended to launch in March, but it incurred several delays. It's not clear if Apple objected and attempted to stop the launch or if the Iplayboy website just wasn't ready in time, but the wait is finally over.

For anyone interested, a subscription costs £5 ($8) a month, £37 ($60) a year or £62 ($100) for two full years. That's a lot of bunnies. µ